The Republican National Committee rolled out its talking points early Monday morning, portraying Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as a tax-and-spend, anti-business governor who will try to pull off a $1 trillion socialized medicine plan as secretary of Health and Human Services.

The rhetoric probably won’t matter. Early signals from Capitol Hill are that President Obama’s second choice for HHS secretary shouldn’t encounter major problems in confirmation – especially since conservative home state Sen. Sam Brownback endorsed Sebelius over the weekend.

The nomination announcement is on tap for later this morning – assuming Washington roads are plowed so the key players can get there.

Good snowy Monday morning and welcome to The Huddle, where it’s sales week for President Obama’s budget, as OMB Director Peter Orszag and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will testify before all the major congressional money committees. Also driving the week: a Senate vote today on the omnibus appropriations bill, a final House vote on D.C. voting rights and House debate on a mortgage bill that includes the so-called bankruptcy “cram down” provision.

PELOSI’S DOGHOUSE: Who’s on Speaker Pelosi’s bad side these days? POLITICO’S Glenn Thrush takes a look at a speaker who makes lists: “The list, Pelosi allies say, is real — even as they warn that overstating her vindictiveness feeds into the right-wing caricatures of Pelosi and perpetuates ethnic and gender stereotypes. Moreover, they argue that portraying her as payback-obsessed misses a fundamental political point: Despite her commanding majority, Pelosi is painfully aware that powerful speakers, including Republican Joe Cannon, have been toppled for using their power heavy-handedly. “She’s not a vengeful person, per se, and she thinks that people who do bad things eventually get their due without her intervention,” a longtime associate said on condition of anonymity. Who’s in the doghouse, per Thrush: Heath Shuler, Rush Limbaugh, Eric Cantor, Paul Kanjorski and Jim Cooper.

GOP STRATEGY: Attack Pelosi, pretend to work with the president. That’s the way the NYT’s Carl Hulse sees the current GOP strategy in Congress: “Barack Obama might be the new president, but to hear Republicans tell it, Nancy Pelosi is really running things. At least that is how it appears from the way Republicans single out the speaker as the cause of everything from their near-blanket opposition to the economic stimulus legislation, to the 9,000 earmarks in the overdue spending bills. … For Republicans, it makes much more sense to focus their disdain on the speaker rather than Mr. Obama, who remains very popular.”

BOEHNER 2010: Minority Leader John Boehner’s job is on the line in 2010, so he’s launched an aggressive strategy to help keep the Republicans elected who would owe him their seats. From POLITICO’S John Bresnahan: “Boehner is threatening to deny help to GOP members who fail to hit specific benchmarks for raising money, putting together effective campaign operations, hiring the right people and smartly managing their campaign resources. If the members miss their metrics, GOP leaders will refuse to bail them out with last-minute infusions of cash from the National Republican Congressional Committee.”

MONEY RACE: USA Today did an analysis of Political Action Committee fund raising and finds that PACs still dominate some congressional races. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), gets singled out for raising 80 percent of his campaign funds from PACs. More from USA Today’s John Fritze: “President Obama shunned contributions from political action committees during his campaign but the special-interest spigot remained wide open for Congress and could still influence his agenda. A USA TODAY analysis of campaign contributions identified 175 members of Congress who received half or more of their campaign cash from political action committees in 2007-08. PACs spent a record $416 million on the federal election, the non-partisan CQ MoneyLine reports.”

DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL: It’s a flashback to 1993 again – a new Democratic president about to be distracted by a galvanizing social issue. But are times different? POLITICO’S Jen DiMascio has the scoop: “On Monday, buoyed by a stronger Democratic majority in Congress, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) will introduce legislation to overturn the ban against homosexuals serving openly in the military, a Tauscher aide said. … The issue is risky for Obama, too, political analysts said, threatening to galvanize social conservatives and other political opponents, strain the new president’s relations with the military, and force him to squander valuable political capital that is needed on more pressing matters, particularly his economic agenda.”

DEBATE IS BACK: Roll Call’s Emily Pierce got a sit down with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who explains why he’s allowing more debate on Senate amendments. The short answer: It’s much easier with 58 Dems. From Roll Call: “If you have the manpower that you didn’t have previously, you can change how you play the game,” Reid said in an interview Friday. “So, of course, I had to change my style. ... It’s made it so I can change my lineup and change how I play the game.” While the past two years were marked by a record number of GOP-led filibusters and Democratic attempts to shut Republicans out of debates, Reid has opened up the Senate floor to GOP and Democratic amendments on every bill but one this year.”

BUNNING IN FULL: We could fill the entire Huddle with Jim Bunning quotes and anecdotes, but the Chicago Tribune reports this morning that Republicans are truly worried that the Kentucky senator’s wild quotes and political temperament could cost them that seat next year. The Chicago Tribune’s James Oliphant reports: “All of this has left Mitch McConnell, the other Kentucky senator, in an unenviable position. He has referred to Bunning as his best friend in the Senate, but McConnell is also the Republican leader in the chamber. Losing a once-secure seat in his home state would be a political black eye for McConnell, as well as a strategic setback. Republicans may have to defend as many as five seats being vacated by GOP incumbents. At least four other Republican senators face races that are expected to be close. The party does not need the possible distraction and financial drain that a tight race in Kentucky would offer.”

MODERATE TROUBLEMAKERS: Roll Call’s Tory Newmyer’s take on the emboldened “Blue Dog” moderates: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) needs to watch the right flank of her Caucus. United by the common threat of liberal strong-arming, the moderate Blue Dog and New Democrat coalitions are proving they are serious about mounting a sustained, coordinated pushback. The groups are counting on the size of their ranks — a combined super bloc of 101 Members — to ensure Pelosi doesn’t use her expanded Democratic majority to swerve left.”

And POLITICO’S Patrick O’Connor’s take: “Moderates worry Pelosi is routinely staking very liberal positions to push House versions of big bills as far to the left as possible to enhance their standing in negotiations with the historically centrist Senate. This might be a smart tactic, but it often hurts Democrats who rely on Republican votes to win reelection. Put bluntly, it makes them look too liberal.”

REPUBLICAN EARMARKING: Republicans get a good ride out of bashing the thousands of earmarks in spending bills, but the reality is that they have been unable to agree amongst themselves on new rules for earmarks. The Hill’s Molly Hooper discovers a delayed report: “A select group of House Republicans tasked to make recommendations on reforming the earmark process are divided and have been unable to agree to a final report. The division means the report will be further delayed past the Feb. 16 deadline originally set by Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who told reporters on Tuesday that the Select Committee on Earmark Reform would release its recommendations this week.”

RAHM’S SEAT: You need a flow chart to understand the wide open struggle for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s former House seat. The Wall Street Journal’s Douglas Belkin has the story: “The tainted Illinois political machine has left a vacuum in the race to fill Rahm Emanuel's congressional seat. The Illinois fifth district, on the city's North Side, has long produced forceful, hyperpartisan Democrats who have brought their sharp elbows to Washington. Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski held the seat before he was convicted on corruption charges. Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich represented the district for three terms before Mr. Emanuel, now the White House Chief of Staff, won the seat in 2002. Now, with the city's machine hobbled by negative headlines about Mr. Blagojevich and Sen. Roland Burris, neither the Democratic Party nor Mayor Richard Daley, usually the city's kingmaker, has offered an endorsement. This has left the door open to 23 candidates, including a slew of political neophytes like a Polish-speaking doctor, an airline pilot and a Cuban-born psychiatrist who grew up in public housing.”

WJLA WASHINGTON WEATHER: Snow continues to fall throughout the region as the second area of snowfall passes through associated with the upper level energy. Snow will continue through the early morning hours before tapering off before noon. Otherwise, expect cold temperatures and gusty winds with highs in the upper 20s and winds gusting up to 40 mph at times.

Boss Obama is so competent he needs a teleprompter to introduce a new Cabinet Member. Obama should hire the 13 year old kid that spoke impromptu to CPAC for speech lessons. We were led to believe Obama was the Messiah by the Main Stream Media which is more like an advertising agency for Obama. So Sebellus gets introduced like some robot from CNN reading the 6pm news prepared by some 25 year old production manager who got their news from the Daily Kos or moveon.org. When do we get a display of competence from our White House?